Driving through Switzerland to the French Alps
Do you need a Swiss vignette to drive through Switzerland to the French Alps?
Only if your route uses a Swiss motorway. The charge attaches to green-signed motorways and expressways alone, so a crossing that stays on ordinary main roads owes nothing at all, and where you do use one the annual is the single length Switzerland sells. France works differently: its autoroutes are paid per kilometre at the péage, and a Crit'Air sticker is required only inside a low emission zone or during a prefect's pollution measures.
The Swiss part turns on road class
Switzerland charges by the class of road, not by the border. Green-signed Autobahn and Autostrasse are charged; blue-signed main and cantonal roads are not, so a transit driver who keeps off the motorway network owes the country nothing.
A Basel to Geneva crossing on ordinary roads is described as taking roughly twice as long as the motorway. We could not confirm the junctions or the exact roads of that alternative at any road authority, so treat a specific non-motorway itinerary as unverified and read the signage as you go.
The motorway corridor itself is the A1, described as the country's main east to west axis, about 410 kilometres from Geneva to St. Margrethen and crossing into France at Bardonnex near Geneva. That description also comes from a secondary source.
Decide the road class first and the product second. If any part of the crossing is motorway, put the annual Swiss vignette on the car before you enter the country.
Into the Chamonix valley
From Geneva the usual continuation is the French A40, the Autoroute Blanche, which is tolled by the kilometre and asks for no sticker.
The Swiss-side alternative runs from Martigny over the Col de la Forclaz to the French border at Vallorcine, an ordinary mountain road with no motorway signage on it. Both of those routings come from tourism sources; no road authority we could reach describes either.
Check the pass status before choosing the Forclaz in midwinter, and keep the motorway route as the fallback.
France charges by the kilometre
France has no motorway vignette. Its autoroutes are financed by péage collected per kilometre under concession contracts, so nothing is bought in advance and nothing goes on the windscreen.
A concession is a public service delegation: the state grants a company the right to build, finance, operate and maintain a stretch of motorway in exchange for the right to collect its toll, and the road returns to state ownership when the contract ends.
Expect to pay at barriers during the drive, and carry a means of payment that works at an unstaffed lane.
Crit'Air, and where it is actually required
The Crit'Air sticker is mandatory only inside a designated low emission zone, a ZFE-m, or when a prefect activates differentiated traffic rules during a pollution episode. It is not a nationwide requirement for ordinary driving.
The French ministry states that certificat-air.gouv.fr is the only official site for obtaining one. Anything else charging you for a Crit'Air sticker is a reseller.
The Arve valley, which takes in Chamonix, Les Houches, Vallorcine and Sallanches, has been described as an air protection zone since 23 February 2017, with restrictions falling on trucks and leaving private cars alone. We could not confirm that at a French government page, so check the current rule for the communes on your own route before you trust it.
Order from the government site only, and only if your route actually enters a zone that asks for the sticker.
The Mont Blanc tunnel is its own toll
The Mont Blanc tunnel links Chamonix in France with Courmayeur in Italy and is run by GEIE-TMB, a French and Italian grouping formed by the two concessionaires: ATMB on the French side and SITMB on the Italian one. Its registered office is at the Italian portal in Courmayeur, with an operating base on the French side in Chamonix.
GEIE-TMB collects the tunnel toll on behalf of both companies and is responsible for the tunnel's operation, maintenance, traffic safety and management. No Swiss or French sticker of any kind covers it.
Pay it at the portal, and count it separately from anything you bought for the road either side.
Three charges and a sticker, in the order they arrive
A crossing to Chamonix can carry three charges and one sticker, and none of them stands in for another: the Swiss vignette if any part of your route is green-signed, the French péage collected per kilometre at the barrier, the Mont Blanc toll if you carry on into Italy, and Crit'Air if a zone on the route asks for it.
Only the first of those is ours to sell. The annual is the one vignette Switzerland offers, a staffed customs post at the Swiss border will hand you the sticker on the day, and buying through us means the official charge plus a service fee we show before checkout. A driver who can stay on blue-signed roads pays none of it, and the Swiss vignette price page is there so you can see what you would be paying for.